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Caution! This classic may cause trauma!

'Trigger warnings' aim to protect, but critics see coddling and censorship

By Jack Minch, jminch@sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated:
05/25/2014 06:49:57 AM EDT

Critics argue "trigger warnings" would be needed for literary classics such as The Great Gatsby because of its misogyny and violence, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for its racism, and almost all of Shakespeare's works.

Whether to put so-called trigger warnings on syllabuses for college classes to spare students of having to relive pain in their personal lives has started a national debate in recent weeks.

Trigger warnings got their start on the Internet, particularly on feminist blogs.

They are warnings that material -- texts, literature, films and lectures -- may trigger traumatic memories and feelings. The warnings were originally for sexual content but have blossomed to such topics as racism, violence or disability discrimination.

Trigger warnings jumped off the computer screen and into the classrooms when university and college students started asking for them in their syllabuses this spring. Requests came from such schools as Rutgers University, Oberlin College, George Washington University and the University of Michigan.

The proposal has grown into a source of derision among pundits who have noted trigger warnings would be needed for literary classics such as The Great Gatsby, because of its misogyny and violence; Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for its racism and almost all of William Shakespeare's stories. Even the Bible would need a warning, they say.

Mount Wachusett Community College President Dan Asquino last week said he's referred the idea to Academic Vice President Melissa Fama to study with the school's faculty.

"It's a worthy discussion for our faculty, and that's what will happen," Asquino said, who added spring semester classes have ended so the subject will be taken up in the fall.

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Many students suffer traumatic experiences in life, whether on a battlefield or of a sexual nature, so it seems fair to issue a warning if a professor is showing a violent film, Asquino said.

"On the other, side we are an educational facility and students need to understand in America there is academic freedom and if they don't confront it here they will have to confront it in life," he said. "So why not confront it here?"

Sean Goodlett, chairman of Fitchburg State University's Economics, History, and Political Science Department, has never received a request for trigger warnings, but he does offer a brief oral warning before showing some covering 18th-century political pornography from France.

"I want to be very careful about that because I personally want to give students an advance warning, a very brief verbal warning, but I'm not sure there are a terrific number of pluses to trigger warnings, and I don't see any virtue in a blanket trigger warning," Goodlett said.

He opposes a blanket policy at FSU or any university or colleges.

Additionally, students can't claim the right to prior censorship of course materials or reading assignments, which would give them the power to cleanse the classroom of controversial materials or perceived insensitive subjects, Goodlett said.

Psychologist Paul Bail, who practices in Leominster, believes trigger warnings could be helpful for videos but would have limited effect for literature.

Readers can put down literature as they approach material that could trigger their emotions, but pictures and video can come on screen without warning, he said.

For instance, the multisensory assault from watching a hammer swing toward a head, hearing the thump, then watching the brains pour out could be too much for students, he said.

"I think it's a little easier with reading to decide 'this is disturbing' and stop, where with visual by the time you take it in it's too late," Bail said.

Warnings aren't a new idea, Bail said. Movies, television, and music albums have ratings or warnings and usually list the reasons why they receive the rating, Bail said.

"If you have material that is potentially upsetting and you are showing it to people you don't know their status, it's probably nice to do that," he said.

Fitchburg Public Library Director Sharon Bernard wasn't aware of any requests for trigger warnings at her institution. But she's concerned about issuing trigger warnings for literature and couldn't think of any pros to the idea.

"We adhere to American Library Association on censorship, and this is a form of censorship," she said.

People need to do their own research on reading material such as following literary reviews or even a dust cover to decide whether it's something they want to read, Bernard said.

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